Members on long-term disability are getting more of the long-term treatment than they need.

OPSEU has challenged the employer on the needless delays in getting money to members on LTIP.

More than 1,000 OPS members on LTIP are due to get a 3.5 per cent increase on their monthly cheques, and retroactive pay from Jan. 1, 2002.

So far they have received neither the increase nor the retroactive pay.

They didn’t see the raise on their early August cheque as promised.

It seems the government neglected to tell the insurance carrier, Manulife, about this change in the new OPS contract.

With pressure from the union, the government now says that members on LTIP should see the pay increase on their Aug. 31 cheques.

Management says the retroactive money will “most likely” be paid in September.

“The employer does not have any excuse for this long-term delay, as they are not the ones processing these cheques,” says Andy Todd, senior negotiator for OPSEU.

“Given that this is a vulnerable group of people, the employer has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by moving quickly to ensure people on LTIP receive their pay increase and retroactive pay.”

Express your outrage to David Tsubouchi, Management Board Chair. You can get him at 416-327-2333 or fax him at 416-327-3790. Don’t forget to call your MPP too.

POSO sale ‘not a done deal’

The campaign to save the Province of Ontario Savings Office (POSO) from privatization has gained support from loyal customers with lifetime roots in the service.

And OPSEU has asked the opposition parties to step up their support for the campaign.

Members in Windsor held a lunch hour demonstration at their branch Aug. 14.

This was followed by customer awareness activities at branches in Seaforth, St. Mary’s and Woodstock Aug. 19.

Demonstrators told branch customers the proposed sale “is not a done deal.”

They urged customers to put pressure on their MPPs to stop the sale and asked them to contact Conservative MPPs Helen Johns, Bert Johnson, and Ernie Hardeman to oppose the sale.

In Seaforth, where about one-third of the population banks at POSO, members leafleted the entire downtown.

In Woodstock, demonstrators included Phil Dunbar, an OPSEU retiree and longtime customer. “This is a people bank,” Dunbar said. “If it’s making money and not costing the province anything then what’s the big deal?”

Howard Clynick, a customer for 50 years, said he was ready to do more to fight the sale. “To me (the sale) is like losing a member of the family.”

OPSEU President Leah Casselman wrote to Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and NDP Leader Howard Hampton Aug. 9 asking them to “commit to make expanded and modernized POSO service available across Ontario.” She said if the sale goes through, “our citizens will lose the ability to make investments in their own province.”

The Ministry of Finance says it wants to complete the sale of POSO by early 2003. The buyer could close operations completely after three years. If there are no qualified bidders, the province says it will “consider its options.”

OPSEU has bumper stickers, flyers, postcards and petitions on our web site at http://www.opseu.org/campaign/posoindex.htm.

More protests are planned.